Valentine-themed art show set to open

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A new Valentine-themed exhibit featuring award-winning watercolors, etchings, drawings, prints and cards by local artist Karen Hinrichs opens in the Granucci Gallery Tuesday through March 4.

“I am excited about this opportunity! For the first time, I will see my watercolor ‘Preposition Series’ displayed all at once! The message is from myself to myself. The viewer may or may not ‘get it,’” Hinrichs said.

Hinrichs, a longtime Nevada County resident, has experimented with several media — etching, drawing, acrylic, oil, clay, metal and photography. Her current love is watercolor; she likes its spontaneity and the magic it creates as the water and pigments run together, she said. The favorite part of her endeavors is the actual hands-on, the tactile, sensual process of using paint.

“I can put a splotch of paint on the paper, and it will run and make configurations that I wouldn’t have imagined. I consider it play! The hard part is setting aside the time, putting paintbrush to paper and taking action,” Hinrichs said. “Although I use varied subject matter, my interest in the human body has endured and deepened throughout the years. It has been my love to do the human form; I really get a lot from imaging a person. I feel like I know them and I merge with them as I paint.

“The natural world is also an inspiration for me — it feeds my soul. The flowers and vegetables of my garden, rocks, trees and organic forms abound on my land in our beautiful Sierra foothills,” she added.

The show will be at The Center for the Arts gallery space until March 4, located at 314 W. Main St. in Grass Valley.

“Everyone has something to express. At the core of our being, we all want to create — we are, in fact, creating all the time! I intend to continue to follow this energy wherever it takes me for my highest good,” she said.